Time for an 'American Idol' reboot

Thursday's audition episode of "American Idol" felt like a throwback to the days when we used to look forward to the early part of the season, when the freaks and the talents weren't always obvious and we enjoyed watching Simon Cowell crush the dreams of the highly delusional. But one good hour hardly makes up for the five dull outings that preceded it, and it seems like time to recommend – or perhaps beg – that the producers figure out some other way to open the competition.

Once it gets to the fan voting, no other talent competition can stay on stage with "Idol" and its unbeatable combination of folksy intimacy and high-stakes tension. But getting to that point is becoming increasingly hard to watch.

The show recognized that its so called "Green Mile" episodes – the final cut before the voting begins – weren't working, and this year the judges will be forced to make their final decisions in full public view. Now it is time to revamp the auditions. As always, the Watcher has some ideas:

Plan A: Treat the preseason like – dare I say it? – a reality show. Pick a dozen or so contestants and follow them through the entire audition process. Some wouldn't make it as far as the judges, others would make it all the way to the fan voting. It would be much more difficult to do, and a couple of singers would get a big advantage on the competition, but it would make for far better TV.

Plan B: Give up. Condense the auditions to a single two-hour special and move on to Hollywood. We all know how the process works, and as this season has proven, it's not much fun to watch anymore.

ALL AT ONCE

Netflix placed all 13 episodes of its new series "House of Cards" on the service this weekend and is offering the premiere episode free to non-subscribers. It's not the first series for the video-streaming service, but it is the most expensive and highest profile, starring Oscar winner Kevin Spacey and created by noted writer/director David Fincher ("The Social Network," "Fight Club").

Netflix is trying to follow the path taken by HBO and Showtime, evolving from simply a carrier of others' output to a place subscribers go for original content. Netflix also is behind the revival of "Arrested Development," which also will release its entire season at once, probably this spring.

As the competition intensifies among streaming services – notably Netflix, Hulu and Amazon – the three carriers will battle to set themselves apart from each other with more exclusive programming, whether negotiated from networks or put together on their own.

Netflix is particularly pushing the notion of making an entire season of a show available at once. As chief executive Reed Hastings said in a recent letter to Netflix shareholders: "Imagine if books were always released one chapter per week, and were only briefly available to read at 8 p.m. on Thursday. And then someone flipped a switch, suddenly allowing people to enjoy an entire book, all at their own pace. That is the change we are bringing about. That is the future of television. That is Internet TV."

ZOMBIE FEST

Speaking of all-you-can-eat TV, AMC will take on the Super Bowl with a marathon of season one of its zombie-apocalypse thriller "The Walking Dead" beginning at 3 p.m. Sunday. Season two and the first half of season three will follow Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m. New episodes from season three return next Sunday.

The Watcher is not much of a horror fan, but "The Walking Dead" has a lot more to offer than just shock and gore – although there is certainly plenty of that. At its core is a surprisingly thoughtful story about what it means to be human.

TOP 10

What the Watcher is watching this week, besides that football game.

1. "American Idol" (Fox, Wed-Thu) – Hollywood at last

2. "Modern Family" (ABC, Wednesday) – Cam produces "Phantom"

3. "The Americans" (FX, Wednesday) – Pilot episode was great

4. "Justified" (FX Tuesday) – Raylan gets deeper into the mystery

5. "Project Runway" (Lifetime, Thursday) – I miss Michael Kors

6. "Top Chef" (Bravo, Wednesday) – Top four disembark in Juneau

7. "The Joe Schmo Show" (Spike, Tuesday) – A piece of genius

8. "New Girl" (Fox, Tuesday) – Cece goes on the market

9. "The Following" (Fox, Monday) – Still riding the fence on this

10. "Community" (NBC, Thursday) – Season premiere

Contact the writer:mhewitt@ocregister.com or 714-796-7724. Follow the Watcher on Twitter (@WatcherofTV) Facebook (The Watcher) or my blog, pedrowatcher.ocregister.com